What is one thing you wish people warned you about before you had kids?

For me.. it would be how drastically your eating habits change. Sometimes it downright sucks. I miss frequenting my fav thai restaurant. It was always a hard decision between the massamun curry – a coconut based curry with potatoes, onions, carrots and roasted peanuts or tofu with cashew nuts, onions, mushroom, carrots and scallions. Pair that with a sweet Thai iced tea and we’re good to go. Focus Sarah, focus.

Thanks to the kind folks at Moms Meet I was able to sample a mighty fine selection of WorldFoods sauces: Thai Yellow Curry cooking sauce, Indonesian style Fried Rice Nasi Goreng paste, Thai Green Curry paste and Thai Coconut Galangal stir fry sauce. All four of these are from their ‘Free From‘ product line that are “free from” gluten, dairy and nuts. Absolutely NOTHING artificial or genetically modified.

I wish I was one of those my-kids-eat-anything type Moms but I’m not and my kids don’t. No matter how hard I try, how many times I introduce new items.. they like what they like. I decided to throw all my reservations about ethnic cooking out the window and try again.

Guess what happened? No seriously.. guess….

My kids ATE IT. Ok Ok.. maybe you’re not as excited as I am.. fine. But my kids ate something that wasn’t in the shape of a dinosaur or out of a squeeze tube!

And using the sauces is easy peasy. We threw some chicken in the crock pot with the Coconut Galangal sauce and some frozen veggies. A few hours later we threw it over some rice. Done and done. That is seriously my kind of cooking. I work 40+ hours a week, not including my 2 hour commute everyday. The idea that I can have dinner ready and waiting.. PERFECT.

One night I decided to kick it up a bit. I grabbed the Nasi Goreng paste and threw all caution to the wind. Thankfully the jar has a SUPER easy recipe right on the side.

I received this product for free from the sponsor of the Moms MeetSM program, May Media Group LLC, who received it directly from the manufacturer. As a Moms MeetsSM blogger, I agreed to use this product and post my opinion on my blog. My opinions do not necessarily reflect the opinions of May Medai Group LLC or the manufacturer of the product.

I had the pleasure of sampling some ginnybakes cookies and baking mixes thanks to the Moms Meet blogger program. I was blown away by the box of samples… what a great selection! I wasn’t familiar with the brand but have tried a bunch of different kinds of gluten free cookies… most of which were.. um… not great? However the ginnybakes brand holds it’s own.

My favorite thing about these products (besides being non-gmo and organic) is how they taste homemade. Let’s face it.. when you had a Grammy that knew how to bake.. most store bought treats just don’t cut it. Oatmeal Coconut Bliss was hands down my favorite. Hello, my name is Sarah… and I’m a coconut-aholic. And they were just that, bliss. The Butter Crisp cookies reminded me of Christmas as a youngling. There is something about a buttery, sugar cookie that brings you back to being a kid. I think it’s the sparkly dusting of sugar ;o)

Their ginnybakes mixes are just as great! I made the ‘lovely brownie bliss’ in my mini donut pan. I am not a huge fan of using oil in any baked goods. I’m the crunchy momma that always uses those handy little cups of apple sauce. (the ginnybakes recipe calls for coconut oil.. which i LOOOOOVE but ran out of in my AM smoothie). Using the applesauce made the brownies moist and cakelike. My boys went nuts over them. As you can see kid #3 was angry he couldn’t eat them all… sorry dude.

As always I try to learn everything I can about the product I’m reviewing.. Their website is beautiful and their Instagram makes their founder, ginny simon, incredibly accessible. I was in awe when she started to comment on my posts about the product! Most of the time when you tag companies you never expect to interact with their creator!

From their website:

“founded in 2010 by ginny simon, ginnybakes is the realization of a dream. combining ginny’s passion for nutrition, active living and baking, our products are a natural expression of her dedication to leading healthy, balanced lives.”

And you can tell by their social media that they live that mantra. Photos of food, life, family and wellness. Unlike most company’s social media accounts, I thoroughly enjoy ginny’s updates. As a consumer I feel better about the products I choose when I feel a connection to the people and the passion behind them.

Last but certainly not least they offer ginnybars and ginnyminis. Peace, Love & Apple was my favorite. They also make Love & Nuts, Karma, Love & Apricot and Happy Chocolate Bliss. Crunchy and slightly chewy made this lady happy on her long commutes to work. And then once I got to work I knew I had a little treat waiting for me later. ginnyminis are the perfect little snack during the day. Just enough to take the edge off ;o)

I received this product for free from the sponsor of the Moms MeetSM program, May Media Group LLC, who received it directly from the manufacturer. As a Moms MeetsSM blogger, I agreed to use this product and post my opinion on my blog. My opinions do not necessarily reflect the opinions of May Media Group LLC or the manufacturer of the product.

Kids will eat ANYTHING in a pouch… but it’s just too darn expensive. I can get like 3x the amount of applesauce in bulk than I can in pouches. But guess what.. my three boys ain’t got time for that.

So the solution – Squeasy Snackers! The lovely folks at Squeasy Gear are on the up an up and were kind enough to give me some to review (and to give away..keep reading!)

I’ve seen many designs of reusable food pouches and usually it boils down to ONE thing.. how easy it is to clean. The best part of the Squeasy Snacker is that they’re made from 100% Food Grade Non-Toxic, BPA free, PVC free, Phthalate Free Silicone. You can easily inside-them-out to clean or throw them in the top rack of your dishwasher.

I was hustling out the door one day and decided to just put water in them. The kids thought they were so cool to use. However.. they had to get used to the squeasy-ness. Thankfully it was a hot summer day and they appreciated getting squirted in the face!

The next thing I decided to do was make a smoothie in them. I did our old standby – coconut water, frozen berries, local maple yogurt and bananas! It was chilly and refreshing and a healthy snack.

You can check out my kids reaction here on my Instagram post(Just like my kids to scream about going pee in the background! Ahh to be a Mom to three boys):

So you want to check one out for yourself? I have one Squeasy Snacker to give out to a lucky reader! Contest runs until 8/31!

The lovely folks at Immaculate Baking sent us some fab samples of their latest cookie creations. They were also kind enough to throw in a can of their tasty cinnamon rolls!

I was looking for a different way to use them, Pinterest had some awesome ones! I wish I had a waffle iron because throwing some flattened cinnamon buns on the grill looked great. But I digress.. Nothing screamed out awesomeness to me. So I thought.. Sweet & Savory.. Cinnamon buns and pork sausages!!

Think pigs in a blanket.. But using cinnamon rolls. Brilliant I know! All you need is Immaculate Baking Cinnamon Rolls and frozen cooked sausages. I chose Wellshire maple pork sausages. Neither item has anything artificial, preservatives or colors. Super important when I’m cooking for the Fam.

Anyone else love popping open cans of rolls?! Love it.

-Preheat the oven to 350°
-Unroll 1 cinnamon roll and cut in half
-Roll each piece of roll around a sausage link
-Depending on what sausage you use it might be better to cut each roll into 3rds.
-Throw em in the oven for 20-25 minutes.
-After 20 minutes keep a watchful eye every couple minutes. Make sure they’re not browning too much but also check to make sure they’re not too doughy.

My boys LOVED these… So did the Husband. These Sausage CinnaSwirls would be perfect for a family brunch or early AM tailgating.

xo Sarah

disclaimer: Immaculate Baking sent me free product to review on our blog. Also note that matchingmummies does not accept any liability from the purchase or use of any products reviewed on this blog.